British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be invited to the G20 summit the United Kingdom will host in Manchester in November 2027, according to a BBC report carried by the Daily Mirror.
Asked whether Putin would be invited, Burnham said “no”, citing sanctions against the Kremlin. He told The Economist that the Russian leader “will not be coming because of an outstanding sanction” on senior Russian figures.
The UK has maintained a policy of no direct bilateral engagement with Russian ministers since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A contrast with Washington
Burnham’s position sets the UK apart from the United States. President Donald Trump has drawn criticism for inviting Putin to this year’s G20, which he will host in Miami in December. The Kremlin has not said whether Putin will attend.
Russia is a member of the G20 — a grouping of 19 nations plus the European Union and the African Union — while Ukraine is not. The war has nonetheless dominated recent summits. Putin has not attended a major global summit since launching the invasion.
AI governance on the agenda
Burnham said the Manchester meeting would offer “a real opportunity” to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping on safety regulations for artificial intelligence.
Pressed on whether the UK could bring the US and China to the same table on global AI supervision, he said: “As I sit here today, that feels challenging, but we’ve got to hold out the need to find global agreements on AI. If we don’t, the risks of recent times will magnify, they will significantly intensify. So you’ve got to go into it with that aim.”
